Skip to content

Mayo RCMP may be closer to identifying firebug

Mayo RCMP may be closer to identifying firebug Mayo RCMP may be closer to discovering who is responsible for starting several small fires around the village. The police have interviewed a man who was seen at some of the most recent fires, Cpl.

Mayo RCMP may be closer to discovering who is responsible for starting several small fires around the village.

The police have interviewed a man who was seen at some of the most recent fires, Cpl. Chris Hutchings confirmed this week.

“We’re hopeful that we may have turned a corner on this,” he said.

There have been five fires around Mayo since April, he said. The most recent one was reported early last month at an abandoned home near the river. Fires have also been set at the old Nacho Nyak Dun cemetery and at the recycling centre, as well as outside the village.

Many of them were suspicious, having started at times when the wildfire risk was low.

Hutchings couldn’t say whether all the fires are connected, but police are considering that a serial arsonist may be behind them. No charges have been laid yet, and the police are continuing to investigate.

Mayo RCMP has been working with the major crimes unit in Whitehorse and with the behavioural sciences group in Vancouver to come up with a profile of the suspect.

Nearly 20 fires were set in and around Mayo last summer, including next to the Nacho Nyak Dun graveyard. There were no suspicious fires all winter, and now that the weather’s warmed up, they’ve begun again. The individual police have interviewed was not mentioned in investigations last year.

(Meagan Gillmore)

Body recovered from Yukon River near Eagle, Alaska

A body has been found in the Yukon River near Eagle, Alaska. Alaskan authorities told the RCMP about the body on June 30.

Police do not yet know if it is the body of Michael Ludwig. Ludwig, 65, was last seen on June 10 at the Brittania/Canadian Creek on the Yukon River. Ludwig was travelling between Whitehorse and Dawson City in a red canoe.

He is six foot-three, has a slim build, grey hair, a moustache and full beard. He speaks with a German accent.

Police are still searching for Ludwig.

Anyone with further information is encouraged to call the Dawson City RCMP at (867) 993-2677 or 993-5555.

(Meagan Gillmore)